Martini, in a lawsuit filed Wednesday, Jan. 30, said he told the county Board of Commissioners that Pickell was simultaneously receiving county pension benefits as a retiree of the Prosecutor's Office while the county has also contributed money to his 401k retirement account.

Martini's lawsuit claims the double payments to the sheriff were illegal and says he told commissioners exactly that before his Jan. 16 firing.

The controller's attorney, Glen Lenhoff, would not comment on facts of the case outside the five-page filing in Genesee Circuit Court.

"We look forward to a trial in this case," Lenhoff said. "We will fully expose the facts of this case."

Pickell said Thursday, Jan. 31, that the issue of his pension collection still has not been resolved and that talks have been ongoing for about the past year.

Even county officials have shifted their positions on the propriety of the payments, according to the sheriff.

"I followed all the rules the county laid out for me," Pickell said.

The sheriff said Martini and former county corporation counsel Ward Chapman had been aware of benefits paid to him since at least 2008 and the county retirement office set up the arrangement.

Debra Tocarchick, retirement services administrator for the county, said she had not seen Martini's lawsuit and declined to comment.

Martini's firing came in the same month that the former controller told commissioners he has been and continues to be the subject of a criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Martini said in a memorandum to commissioners that he had been told by federal prosecutors that he won't be prosecuted if he resigned his position.

Commissioners voted 7-2 to terminate Martini, giving no explanation for their dismissal of the controller, who is considered an at-will employee.

The federal investigation is tied to Martini's office's oversight of Career Alliance, a job training agency where state regulators made findings of improper spending and mismanagement during the tenure of former executive Pam Loving.

Pickell has claimed for several years that Martini treated his office unfairly in making budget cut recommendations to the county commissioners because his office was initially involved in the Career Alliance investigation.